Snowden Mark, Steinman Lesley, Frederick John
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98104, USA.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2008 Jan;5(1):A26. Epub 2007 Dec 15.
Depression is increasingly recognized as a significant public health problem among older adults. Because the condition is highly treatable and currently undertreated among community-based older adults, late-life depression is an appropriate focus for disease prevention programs. We report findings from a recent project to review the scientific literature for published reports about treatment for depression among community-dwelling older adults and to recommend the interventions with proven effectiveness. We also summarize the research findings related to each recommended intervention and describe the elements of each. To show the difficulties involved in translating research into practice, we describe real-world experiences in implementing these evidence-based interventions in various community settings. Because depression among older people is viewed more and more as a public health problem, we suggest that partnerships of providers, patients, and policy makers be forged to overcome challenges related to funding, training, and implementing treatments for this condition.
抑郁症日益被视为老年人中的一个重大公共卫生问题。由于这种疾病具有高度可治性，而目前在社区老年人中治疗不足，因此晚年抑郁症是疾病预防项目的一个合适重点。我们报告了最近一个项目的研究结果，该项目旨在查阅科学文献，寻找关于社区居住老年人抑郁症治疗的已发表报告，并推荐已证实有效的干预措施。我们还总结了与每项推荐干预措施相关的研究结果，并描述了每项干预措施的要素。为了说明将研究转化为实践所涉及的困难，我们描述了在各种社区环境中实施这些循证干预措施的实际经验。由于老年人抑郁症越来越被视为一个公共卫生问题，我们建议建立提供者、患者和政策制定者之间的伙伴关系，以克服与该疾病治疗的资金、培训和实施相关的挑战。
